Every Day is Earth Day

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume One, Number Six
July/August 1992

EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY

Readers: Send us news of your happenings to share with others around the country.

SPOKANE GROUP BUILDS A COALITION

Bernadine Van Thiel of Assumption Catholic Parish and Sister Evelyn Ferguson of the Sisters of the Holy Names have organized the Sacred Earth Associates to create an Earth Literacy Resource Center for churches, schools and the community. In March the Associates co-sponsored a conference, Earthcry, in cooperation with Spokane Christian Coalition, Gonzaga University Campus Ministry and Religious Studies Department, Network for New Priorities, Secular Franciscans, Peace and Justice Action League, Citizens for Clean Air, Gonzaga Environmental Organization, Whitworth College, Francis-Ignatius Center, and Sisters of Providence. For more, contact Sr. Evelyn Ferguson, SNJM, 3314 W. Garland, Spokane WA 99205, (509) 467-0990.

CHURCHES LINK COMMUNITY GARDENS TO FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

For five years the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield (Flourtown PA 19031; (215) 233-3223) has offered for sale produce from members' gardens on the church grounds, as a project of their Hunger Action Committee. Now people are also contributing extra produce from their own gardens as well as preserves from their kitchens.

In 1991 the one acre community garden of St John's UCC Church (311 Gay St., Phoenixville PA 19460, (215) 933-5311) kept busy 30 gardeners of all races and all ages, tending garden plots that fed the equivalent of 32 families of four. No fees are charged. Donations of cash, seeds, tools, manure and other supplies are forthcoming. The two requirements of the gardeners are that they use organic gardening techniques and that 10 percent of the produce grown be donated to people in need outside their immediate family. For more, write Helene Huber, Gardens for Humanity, PO Box 86, Salford PA 18957.

ANIMAL SANCTUARY SPONSORS PRAYER NETWORK FOR ANIMALS AND THE EARTH

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah is home to over 1500 neglected, abused, or homeless animals. The Sanctuary conducts, in addition to humane education, a spaying and neutering program in local communities, and Pet Therapy in hospitals where dogs and cats visit the sick and elderly. The sanctuary has also initiated the Angelife Gathering, a growing network of people around the country who, at a given time each week, join in prayer and meditation to give spiritual support to all people who work in the areas of environmental and animal protection, on behalf of the struggling creatures of the earth. For more, contact Nathania Gartman, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, PO Box G, Kanab UT 84741, (801) 644-2001.

AMERC OFFERS RURAL / ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY

Appalachian Ministeries Educational Resource Center (AMERC) offers a summer program at Berea College, Berea, KY for seminarians and lay ministers. The core curriculum includes an immersion in the Appalachian social and religious context. The Rural Farm and Environmental Ministry option is directed by environmental theologian Dr. Richard Austin. The academic training is supplemented by a six week (July 17 - August 30,1992) field placement on farms and environmental sites in central Appalachia. For more, contact AMERC, 518 Second Ave., South Charleston WV 25303, (304) 744-7410.

(Isaiah .61: 1-4, Jerusalem Bible 1966)